The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has found three new records of coral reef on the Sindhudurg coast near Malvan of Maharashtra during a recent survey.
Efforts are on to protect the reef with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which has sanctioned Rs. 80 lakh towards capacity building of the local people. A team from the Marine Biology Regional Centre of the ZSI in Chennai and another team from Kolkata conducted a study last week on the status of the coral reef and monitored its health.
In addition to the commonly found species of Turbinaria mesenterina , Goniatsrea pectinata , Porites lichen , Porites lutea , Siderastrea savignvana , Coscinarea monile , Cyphastera serialia , Pleasiastrea versipora , Leptastrea sp , Cyphastrea sp and Goniopora sp , three new records of Goniatsrea sp , Porites sp and Turbinaria sp have been found in the survey covering 180 km of the Sindhudurg coast.
“Fishing is going on there and tourists are also coming to the area for corals. We have to find a way to balance fishing and tourism with the protection of corals in Malvan,” a ZSI official told The Hindu . Unlike the reefs found in other parts of the country — Gulf of Mannar, Gulf of Kutch, Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands — those in Malvan are “pristine and still unbleached,” he said.
The ZSI had earlier transplanted coral reef from the Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu to the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat over one square km with assistance from the World Bank.
